Rig Maratha
by Mr Khan
Summary: A strange island that splits apart leaves Zoro and Robin separated from the others, lost on an island with no supplies. A series of vignettes about their adventures on this island (M for Ch. 5 onward). Chapter 10: The End.
1. Hunt

Rig Maratha

By Mr Khan

Foreword: The name will be familiar to those who read "Numbers Game," and this is indeed a fic that sets up the pre-existing Zoro/Robin relationship that Zoro stumbled into when he slipped into an alternate timeline in that story. This is a story set in that timeline. I recognize that all fan-fiction is an Alternate Universe of a sort, outside of the canon work, though most of my works do try to incorporate as much of canon as possible, this one consciously diverges. I once had a much longer foreword to explain what's going on here, but it's not that far from canon (no Dressrosa, no Punk Hazard, a different island instead). The rest is up to you to figure out. Maybe I'll explain it at the end (evil grin).

Chapter 1: Hunt

Roronoa Zoro's stomach growled, quite audibly. It was the only noise he had made in half a day, ever since he and Nico Robin had begun their trek into the depths of the jungle. He had followed her quietly as afternoon passed. Evening was now drawing on, and Zoro's stomach at last broke the silence which had reigned throughout the day.

_This is her fault, _he knew. _Her and her damn archaeology. If she hadn't been so interested in this stupid brick road, we'd've been on the right side of the line when the island split off. _Robin had indeed found an old road made of white bricks, half-covered by mosses and grass. The mundane road had apparently been quite fascinating to the archaeologist, who had left the market district on Rig Maratha's Core behind and wandered off, following the ruined way. Zoro had followed her, feeling it was prudent that none of them wander alone on an island controlled by a subordinate Kaidou, the brutal Yonkou. After that, the island had split apart out of nowhere. The way back rapidly became a stretch of sea too wide and too fierce for Robin to hope to cross, and the newly-created coastline consisted of sharp, sheer cliffs. There was nowhere to go but inward, to try to find out who was on this islet and what they could do to get back to Rig Maratha's Core the others.

"Hungry, Zoro?" Robin asked, turning and speaking to him for the first time since they had resolved to head inland hours ago.

"Yeah," Zoro grunted.

"Me too," Robin said, moving a hand to her stomach absently. Zoro looked at her for a moment. She was wearing a short-sleeved brown leather jacket, zipped open to reveal a fair bit of cleavage, while a long, teal sun-skirt hung below. Zoro was not especially concerned with what she wore, but rather with what she lacked: any sort of purse, satchel, backpack, or travel bag. Zoro himself lacked any sort of accessories that could carry any food. He was wearing a royal blue t-shirt, a gold haramaki, and khaki pants. His pants had a lot of pockets, but he had not packed any food in them.

"So…" Zoro began.

"There's a stream over there," Robin said, pointing off to one side of the ruined brick road that they had been following. "There must be some animals going to drink."

"You want to go hunting?"

"And foraging," Robin said. "But keeping meat in our diet might be a good idea if we're going to be out here for a while. Meat always makes for a better meal."

"You've been spending too much time around Luffy," Zoro groaned.

Robin giggled. "Perhaps. Shall we?"

Zoro nodded assent, and the two of them left the road, plunging into a stand of thick undergrowth until they neared the bank of the stream. The two pirates crouched in the shade provided by a huge fern leaf as they looked out at the stream, where Zoro again took a moment to take a look at his nakama. Her eyes were closed, and sweat slid down her chiseled nose. He had the distinct impression of watching a predator on the prowl.

His good eye then moved back forward, peering through the gaps in the frond to the stream beyond. One animal immediately stood out: a crane which was drinking daintily from the water. A few moments later, Zoro spied the reason that Robin had her eyes closed: several hana-hana hands with eyes poking out of them were visible around the scene, though hard to spot quickly. Zoro was just beginning to think that they wouldn't be able to get much good meat off of a crane when the elegant bird suddenly stood up straight, took wing, and flew off.

Zoro was about to utter a curse before Robin cut him off. "It's coming," she said simply, not opening her eyes.

"Where? What?"

"Up the stream. You have about four seconds."

The swordsman was about to give his companion a snarky reply for ordering him about like that when he saw it: a big, sleek _something_ darting through the water, moving quickly downstream towards the spot where the crane had just been drinking.

"Tch," Zoro growled, annoyed by the woman's abruptness. But even as the growl passed his lips, he was moving, drawing a sword and leaping out from under cover. His jump was low, close to the ground and barely over the surface of the stream, intercepting the swift-swimming shape. Zoro slashed downward, and there was a splash of water and a brief spurt of red. The swordsman landed on the far side of the stream and turned to look. Robin had made a net of Hana Hana hands and secured the thing Zoro had just cut: the head removed from the body revealed it to be something of a cross between a pike and an eel. The shape of the body promised a good dinner.

An hour later, the sun had begun to set and the light in the jungle was growing dim. Zoro sat by a fire, slowly rotating the pike-eel on a spit, roasting it. He heard a rustling in the undergrowth and turned to see Robin returning to their impromptu campsite, just out of eyesight from the stream itself. Her foraging efforts had been successful, as she held a large leaf which cradled a number of red-orange globe-shaped fruits.

"You sure those are okay to eat?" Zoro asked. The fruit looked very unfamiliar.

"I believe so," Robin said. "I did try one, and I have not gotten violently ill yet."

Zoro grimaced, not finding that very reassuring, but he returned to rotating the pike-eel over the fire. He heard the sounds of Hana Hana hands sprouting, and turned to look again: Robin had many hands at work, surrounding some of the fruit and using her fingernails to peel the skin off the fruit. It was a little messy, but she was making good progress. It was a clever solution for the two of them, who had no tools other than Zoro's swords (which, yes, he had grudgingly used to start the fire).

"Here," she said, after she finished peeling one of the fruits. An extra Hana Hana hand passed the fruit over, giving it to Zoro, who ate it in a couple bites.

"Doesn't taste poisonous," he agreed. "Pretty good, actually. What's it called?"

"I don't know," Robin replied. "It's similar to some fruits I've foraged in the past."

"You just seem to know what you're doing," Zoro observed.

"I've had to do this a lot," she replied simply, continuing to peel.

_That makes sense,_ Zoro thought. She had lived alone for a long time, she had to learn to eat for herself.

"Me too," he said eventually, nodding towards the pike-eel. "I'm nowhere near as good as that damn ero-cook, but I did a lot of hunting back when I was wandering the East Blue." Crude as it was, he had managed to gut the pike-eel with his swords and divide it into filets. He gazed at the fish and sniffed tentatively. "Should be done," he said, lifting the spit off the fire.

He set the filets down on a large, flat rock that they had salvaged and washed in the stream as Robin finished peeling the fruit. The two of them were reduced to using short sticks as impromptu chopsticks as their only eating utensils.

They ate in silence, appreciating the bounty of their hunt.


	2. Watch

Chapter 2: Watch

"This place looks ideal," Robin said. Zoro approached her, looked around, and nodded assent. Short ferns dotted the jungle floor in a small clearing, while a rock in the middle was covered in thick-grown moss, making for a perfect impromptu bed for the two lost travelers. They had eaten about an hour ago, and now night had fallen full and heavy on the cruising island. The two had agreed that it was unwise to sleep where they had eaten, as the fire they had used might have drawn the attention of enemies, if any were to be found on this islet. So they had proceeded through the jungle, looking for a place to sleep.

"You wanna sleep first?" Zoro asked.

"No, that's quite all right," Robin replied. "You go ahead."

Zoro shrugged and set his katana down. He spurned the mossy rock, instead propping himself up against a tree at the edge of the clearing, drawing his knees up close to his body. He closed his good eye and was, apparently, asleep in moments.

Robin sat down on the rock, facing him. She sprouted a number of Hana Hana ears out in the undergrowth, taking in the noises of the nocturnal animals and a jungle which, for the most part, was just coming awake. The range of sound she was now taking in extended several hundred yards in all directions, enabling a single woman to do the surveillance work of a whole crew.

Her wide sensory range allowed her to take in the totality of her surroundings without having to move. Instead she sat on the rock, listening and staring into space. Her thoughts wandered over their situation, stuck on this island floating through the sea, away from the Core of Rig Maratha where their friends waited for them. Getting back would be no small feat: she would have to determine whether this island was sailing under someone's command, or merely moving due to some weird dictate of nature. If it was the latter, there was little they could do. If it was the former, however, they needed to find out who was in control of this island, and seize control from them.

Their resources for achieving such a task were limited. It was just her and Zoro, with the clothes on their backs and Zoro's swords. She pondered Zoro now as he slept, with his head hunched forward towards his drawn-in knees. It looked like a terribly awkward position, but one that he apparently favored for napping.

Zoro napped a lot. Robin knew that about him, as basic a fact about her nakama as Luffy's fascination with beetles or Chopper's horrendous hiding skills. She had never given it much thought before, but it was an interesting thing that he was able to sleep so easily. Zoro could just as readily take a nap somewhere as throw himself into a life-or-death struggle, which presented an odd contrast. He was a bit more alert than some of the other Straw Hats, aware of the dangers which surrounded them, and despite that, he could easily put himself into such a weakened state.

Or was he really so weak? Robin knew he had mastered Observation Haki during the crew's two-year separation, and even before then had possessed strong powers of perception. Perhaps some instinct lay just beneath the surface of his slumbering mind. She was almost tempted to try to test him, but that would only make their situation more awkward.

In a way, she envied him. Though her ability to sleep peacefully had recovered greatly in the years since she had joined the Straw Hat pirates, she still slept nowhere near as much as the others. After twenty years on the run, the fear of weakness, of the helplessness that came with sleep, still lay deep in her psyche, so she still preferred to stay up at night, at least more than the others.

Perhaps that was where the difference lay. Zoro respected the dangers of the world, but he did not fear them, even subconsciously. This could almost be expected; since Zoro had not endured anywhere near Robin's hardships in life, but the thought of it still gave Robin pause as she watched him, the sleeping figure of a man who did not know fear.

~0~

"Zoro." The call of his name and a touch on his arm brought Zoro smoothly awake.

"Time for my shift?" he asked.

"Yes," Robin replied. "I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary so far."

"Right," Zoro said, standing up and stretching his limbs. He grabbed his swords, then paced about for a moment, peering into the jungle in several directions, the awkward silence between them punctured by the noises of the nocturnal life.

"Well, good night," Robin said.

Zoro thought that comment a little strange, but he said nothing. He continued looking out into the jungle, sparing only a glance at Robin as she lay herself down in the ferns, resting her head against the mossy rock. She rolled over onto her side, so that he could not see her face, and then was still.

He paced around for a while after that, getting a feel for the noises of the animals surrounding the clearing. Once he felt confident that he was aware of his surroundings, he returned to his position by the tree trunk, this time with his legs crossed, upright and alert, facing the rock.

Observation Haki kept him just as aware of his surroundings as Robin's many ears had for her. He, too, spent his time thinking about their situation. He was prepared to accept the fact that they could be stuck on this island, apart from the others, for some time. The island's movements could well be naturally regulated, in which case they would have to either find a ship or wait for the island to rejoin the Core. If someone was in control, then it was easy: find them, beat them, and pilot the ship back.

Figuring out the difference was Robin's job. The woman had a knack for piecing the details into the big picture better than any of the other Straw Hats, except maybe for Nami. All he had to do was make sure that she stayed safe long enough to figure a way out of this mess.

Not that she would need much help staying safe. As he had recalled just earlier that day, she was a consummate survivor. She had lived amongst foes who would kill her in a moment just for being who she was, and she had lived long as a fugitive, all for the sake of her goals. She would likely succeed even without his help, but all the same, he would make sure she was safe.

An hour or so after he began his watch, Robin finally fell asleep. She had not moved once since she had lain down, and did not move when she fell asleep. Zoro could simply tell, a subtle shift in his perception of her. She was truly and properly asleep now, and it was then that Zoro realized it was the first time he had ever witnessed such an event. Granted, he rarely saw either of the crew's women asleep due to the separate bedrooms, but Robin's anemic sleeping habits were well-known to all of the Straw Hats. Indeed, he wondered if he wasn't the first of the male crewmates to ever see her actually sleep.

His curiosity began to tug at him, but he was nothing if not disciplined, and repressed it. Instead he continued to sit, listening to the nightly jungle noises. It wasn't really his business to see what she looked like when she was sleeping. It was his job just to keep her safe while she slept, just as she had done for him, and that was enough.

Robin solved that problem for him, in time. She rolled over in her sleep, flipping so that she was now face-to-face with Zoro as she slumbered. It was indeed a strange sight for the swordsman, who had only ever seen her awake. He had seen Robin display many emotions in her time with the crew, from dark anger, deadpan morbidity, gentle, mocking laughter, or pure desperation. Her sleeping face was something wholly distinct; a far gentler side to the woman than any he had seen. Maybe she didn't like people seeing her like that. Maybe that was why she didn't sleep very much.

Hours later, Zoro stood, slowly walking over towards Robin's sleeping form. He did not do so to get a better look at the rare sight of her sleeping face, but for a good reason: dawn was coming. It was time to go.

"Robin, it's time to get up."

**Author's Note:** _When you do nothing all night, your mind tends to wander, giving you a chance to think of things you normally don't have time for. And I bet you thought I couldn't make a chapter that was more low-key and sedate than the first one, did you? Though I do promise the next round will have some action and some answers about the broader context here. Might take a while to get there, though. Competing projects._


	3. Enemy

3. Enemy

"Stop," Robin said, holding out an arm to halt her companion's forward progress. He shot her a puzzled look, which she answered by slowly creeping forward into the undergrowth. There was a simple trap, cunningly hidden, just the cover of some leaves. It was built like a bear trap: an iron jaw around a pressure-switch set to down anyone who got in the way. Set in the thick undergrowth like that, it would be avoided by most animals large enough to set it off. It was a trap meant for humans. Equally apparent were a series of wires running away from the trap: not trip wires, but meant for some other purpose.

"So you've been keeping your eyes open around us?" Zoro asked.

"Yes," Robin replied. Since they had set out from their sleeping-site at the break of dawn, she had been creating Hana Hana eyes (and ears) in a perimeter, surrounding them as they marched further into the cruising island's interior, allowing her to keep aware of their surroundings in hostile territory.

"Good catch," he complimented. "I was on the lookout for enemies, I wasn't thinking about traps."

Robin smiled inwardly at the compliment. The second day of travel so far had given her a much friendlier traveling companion for reasons she could not quite understand, but was thankful for nonetheless. He was useful in this situation for other reasons, with his Observation Haki allowing him to sense enemies even before she could with her Hana Hana parts. But Observation was limited in that its user needed to feel intent before they could react. A user could detect a far-off sharpshooter in their killing intent, but a simple trap like this needed to be detected through normal means.

The wires leading away from the trap were the more interesting thing. "I think these wires are linked to someone or something out there." Robin said.

"A double trap?" Zoro mused. "Stops trespassers and detects them too?"

"Likely," Robin observed. "Shall we test that hypothesis?"

"Alright," Zoro said. He looked around for a moment, then spied a short log. He picked it up and pushed it down straight over the pressure switch in the trap.

_Snap!_ The jaws of the trap swung shut, the sharpened steel clipping straight through the wood.

"Imagine if that had been your leg," Robin said.

"I'm trying not to," Zoro replied. She caught him grinning in spite of himself, just for a moment, and then… "Get down!" Robin quickly found herself face down in the small plants covering the forest floor, Zoro's hand on the back of her head. In the same instant she heard the distinctive sound of arrows flying through the air, through the space her torso had just occupied.

"He's shooting again!" Zoro yelled, now standing up and drawing his swords. _Ping!_ Another metal dart flew out of the jungle and was deflected by his blade. Robin now saw it through the perspective of an eye she had sprouted on a nearby tree, as she was still face down on the forest floor, keeping as low a bodily profile as possible. She saw where the arrow came from, and her perception soon spread…

He was a tall man, clothed all in forest green, including a cap with a gaudy red feather. The hunter was about 100 meters away, and with his heavy-looking crossbow, ready to fire more rounds into the jungle. Robin sprouted an arm at his feet, ready to trip him.

"What the hell is that!?" the hunter shouted. He too must be employing Observation Haki, because he saw Robin's arm quickly, and stomped on it with his boot-clad foot.

Robin grunted in pain, but even her failed attempt to trip the hunter provided Zoro with the opportunity he needed: sound of the man's voice giving him range, and a brief halt in the arrows. In an instant Zoro tore through the undergrowth, and now the hunter panicked, trying to turn and run and load more arrows in the same movement.

Thus distracted, Robin made her move. She sprouted more arms around the hunter, tripping him as he tried to run. The hunter rolled as he fell, managing to shake off the arms, but was quickly tackled by Zoro, who bore the hunter back into the ground, perched with his swords over the hunter's neck.

"Get off of me!" the man roared.

"Not happening," Zoro replied. "And there ain't much you can do about it right now," he added, brushing the blades against the hunter's throat.

Robin stood up and began running through the forest towards her companion. "May I?" she asked as she drew nearer.

"Go ahead," Zoro said.

"Treinta Fleur: Clutch!" Zoro let go of the hunter as Robin seized him in many arms. The hunter was arched over backwards, with two hands about his throat and more ready to break his back should he refuse to comply. Robin squeezed a little, and the hunter yelped in pain, a little extra incentive for compliance.

"Who are you working for?" Robin asked. "Who else is on this island?"

The hunter glared, but spoke. "I serve under Commander Subahu, Commander of Durga Island and servant of Lord Sugriva of Rig Maratha."

"And is Subahu the one piloting this island?"

"Yes."

Robin squeezed again, twisting the hunter's back. "You know I'll need more information than that. Why does he pilot the island? To what end?"

"We cruise around this part of the New World, gathering tribute from other islands in Lord Kaidou's territory and destroying enemy pirate ships in the area."

Robin paused for a moment, taking in this information. "Then where is Subahu? How do we find him?"

"In the mountain," the hunter replied, his eyes leaving Robin's gaze and looking over to her right. The mountain could be seen, still on the far side of the islet, a few days' march away in this terrain.

"Is there anything we need to know to get in?"

"The cave entrance is on the mountain's north face. The pilot station is deep inside. But you'll never survive the journey, the other hunters, or Lord Suba-ackh!" Robin squeezed again.

"We don't need your editorials," she said coolly. "Thank you for your cooperation," she added, but then began to squeeze again, clenching around his throat and twisting to break his back.

"Augh!" the hunter began to scream, before Zoro intervened.

"Whoa whoa, what the hell?" He yelled, stepping between Robin and the hunter. "He gave us the information, what are you doing to him?"

"He's an enemy." Robin said. "I was just going to dispose of him."

"But we already beat him!" Zoro growled back. "What's the point in killing someone who's already beaten?"

"It's just a precaution," Robin said, somewhat taken aback. This man was dangerous, why would Zoro want to leave him alive?

"But he's already beaten!" Zoro repeated. "Nothing wrong with killing him in a fight, but this is just shameful." He glared at Robin with a look that he had not directed at her for several years: a look of distaste and suspicion. The hunter struggled to breathe as his fate was being decided.

"He's an enemy," Robin repeated, a little more coldly. "This is just good sense."

"So is that what we should have done with you?" Zoro growled.

Robin had nothing to say to that. It required an hour's response; or none at all. She slackened her grip on the hunter. Before the man could react, Zoro flipped his grip on Wado Ichimonji and brought the butt end slamming into the hunter's temple. He crumpled to the forest floor.

"We'll be hours away by the time he wakes up." Zoro said coldly. "Was that so hard?"

Again, Robin had no response, still working through Zoro's earlier question. She looked to the mountain and started walking.

It looked like it would be a long hike.

**Author's Note:** _So chapter one focused, in part, on how they are similar. Chapter 2 dealt with what they think of each other. Chapter 3 is how they are different. And now Zoro's mad at Robin. Where do we go from here (aside from walking to the mountain)?_


	4. Legend

4: Legend

They had been walking in silence for hours, and there looked to be many more hours of silence as they headed towards the mountain on the horizon. It was not even lunchtime on the second day of their journey into the interior of the islet called Durga, and still her companion remained sullen.

"_So is that what we should have done with you?"_

Robin had been thinking about the answer to that question for the last three hours. Zoro, meanwhile, had spent those three hours trying his level best to ignore her, though that was difficult in this terrain. Apparently he had settled instead for a kind of cold disregard as they worked together to plow through the jungle. She knew she had to put an end to this; his friendship would be necessary for them to succeed in their mission to overthrow this mysterious "Lord Subahu", of course, but she wanted his friendship back for other reasons as well. Last night and early this morning, she had glimpsed a friendlier side of Zoro. It had been nice, and she wanted to see more of it, despite their dispute over how to deal with that enemy.

"Once the great island of Zeleia was torn apart by the Mysian War. Many were the tales of heroism from that legendary time. One of these legends is the Kalydon, the tale of godlike Odios, slayer of men, and his quest with the witch Niobe."

Zoro gave Robin a brief glare, though a hint of confusion lay beneath the glare. They continued hiking as Robin continued, apropos of nothing.

"There were many evils in that war, chief of which was Sarpedon, lord of many-walled Phthyia. The Kalydon does not tell the story of the battle which overthrew him, only rumors echo of that struggle even in the Zeleian oral histories. The aftermath of the battle, and beginning of the legend, tells how the heroes of the war, champions of the fair city of Kyphos and their many allies, despoiled the city of Phtyhia, taking all that Sarpedon had horded greedily, both of fair treasures and many slave women. Of all the women who were taken back to fair Kyphos and divided amongst the spoil, only Niobe was not taken to wife by one of the victorious warriors.

Niobe was a witch, a woman of great knowledge and cunning who had been deeply complicit in Sarpedon's evils, devising some of the greatest horrors that he had then unleashed upon the heroes of legend. As such, it was considered ill fortune for any man to take her into his house. She too had been a slave of Sarpedon, and she alone among the slave women had aided Sarpedon, for greater stature in his household.

Since none would have Niobe in their households, they took her before Atreides, the wise king of Kyphos. Erymas, one of the heroes of the war, made his case.

"Since none will take Niobe into his household, it is proper that we put her to death, before she brings ill fortune upon fair Kyphos." Others of the court spoke in agreement with Erymas.

Unbidden, Niobe spoke in her own defense: "Lord, I would do no man good as a war-won bride, that much I agree with. But could your grace not make use of my skills and knowledge as Sarpedon did? Many were the evils he unleashed, yea, with my aid, and many of these evils have not been dispelled even as Sarpedon himself lies dead in the ruins of Phthyia. I could do service to your kingdom by redressing some of these evils."

"You are wise and crafty, witch," Erymas said in reply. "You served Sarpedon of your own will to your own benefit, and now you think to serve us to save your neck from the axe? You are as much an enemy as Sarpedon himself."

Godlike Odios, slayer of men, did raise his voice in dissent. "Though she be a witch, and the source of many evils which slew the brave warriors of Kyphos and her allies, she did not bear arms on the field of battle. We are not like to Sarpedon, to put man or woman to death in manner other than glorious battle! Though wise with witchcraft she may be, Niobe was taken as spoils. We would do ourselves dishonor to slay her, though she be of ill fortune and no man be willing to take her to wife."

"But take her someone must," Atreides said gravely. "It is not customary that a war captive go about free in the city, especially one as crafty as Niobe. Odios," he said, for Odios was unwed and had taken no war captive into his household, "would you be so willing?"

"I will not suffer her to be my wife," Odios declared. "But I will be her caretaker if such is the alternative to her being put to death."

So Niobe dwelt in the household of Odios for a time, though not as his wife, and soon an opportunity for her to use her powers for the benefit of fair Kyphos came to pass. In a distant corner of the vast island of Zeleia, in the mountain highlands of Olizon there was the source of the river Xanthos, which helped to water the entire island. Minions of Glaukos, an ally of Sarpedon lesser in potency but not in wickedness, had loosed a dread plague upon the headwaters, which would soon threaten all the land. The plague was one of Sarpedon's devices, a product of Niobe's witchcraft.

The armies of fair Kyphos and her allies would go to destroy Glaukos in his homeland of Mykene, but godlike Odios would not go with them. He and his loyal brigade would escort Niobe and venture across the island to the highlands of Olizon to purify the headwaters of Xanthos, using her witchcraft to save what her witchcraft had sullied.

The journey up the river was long and perilous. The Mysian Wars had laid waste to the island and lawlessness reigned outside of the cities, thus desperate bandits plied the waterways. Indeed, the first casualties of the journey occurred after raiding bandits stole Niobe away in the dead of night, forcing Odios and his men to go out of their way to recapture her. Several of Odios' brigade perished in the attempt, dying for the sake of the witch whom they mistrusted, while Odios himself overthrew the bandit chieftain in single combat.

The river hid dangers of a stranger sort as well. The plague spreading down from the highlands above twisted many of the water-creatures into fearsome monsters, so their party came under attack many times by dangers lurking in the water. By good fortune or her own witchcraft, Niobe escaped from all the water-borne evils unscathed, while Odios' strength of arms allowed him likewise overcome the evils of the river. It was thus by her guile and by his strength, the twain were the only two to reach the headwaters of Xanthos in the highlands of Olizon to complete their quest.

The rugged terrain had forced them to leave the watercourse, climbing up into the foothills and following the waterway as best as they could. As they passed through a wide ravine, they were set upon by a dread monster of legend: the Lucent Nargacuga. It dwelt only in the high country, taking the form of a monstrous bat, though it stalked its prey like a mountain lion, using its wings as forepaws. It had a long, whip-like tail, bristling with spines. Its eyes glowed red, like orbs of fire, and it could hide its shape from all sight at will, save for its eyes which would burn even when it was unseen.

The Nargacuga fell upon Odios and Niobe like a lion upon a herd of kine, striking swiftly with its teeth and fore-claws. Godlike Odios, forward in arms, threw himself at the beast to protect Niobe, but Niobe did not flee the fight. Bearing his lance and shield, Odios sought to pierce the beast through its maw, but the Nargacuga pressed him, continuing its assault against the noble warrior.

Back and forth they clashed, until the Nargacuga faded from vision. It was only from the flickering red lights that Odios could track the beast as it charged towards Niobe. The beast pursued her, but Odios was faster, seizing Niobe and removing her from harm's path. But the Lucent Nargacuga had many wiles aside from its fierce strength. As Odios carried Niobe to safety, the Nargacuga returned to sight and swiped its tail, turning many of its spines into swift-flying darts, which bit into Odios' exposed back.

Though the wounds were but trifles, Odios weakened almost instantly, no longer able to bear Niobe, dropping her before he himself dropped to his knees.

"The beast's darts…" Odios cursed.

"They are poisoned," Niobe replied. "They do stem from its tail. The beast must house its poisons there." She now stood between the fallen Odios and the oncoming beast, raising her arms as if invoking a spell, and with a wave of her hands the beast's onslaught too faltered, its movements becoming lethargic as it still lurched towards its prey.

Now Niobe turned her witchcraft on her fallen protector, waving her arms until the venom spilled out of Odios' wounds. Rejuvenated, godlike Odios stood, finding again his fallen spear and cast down the beast.

"Your craft has saved me, witch," Odios told her. "And stayed the mighty beast, though he had been a match for me. You have my thanks."

"And you mine," Niobe returned. "For your selfless expenditure of your body halted the beast's assault. My craft cannot turn aside fangs or claws."

So they defeated the dread Lucent Nargacuga and continued to seek the source of the river."

"And then what happened?" Zoro asked.

Robin turned back towards him. It seemed to have been an honest question, not sarcastic, and it had indeed been a question, meaning he was no longer trying to give her the silent treatment. Sure enough, Zoro's gaze was now significantly warmer.

"Many things," she replied. "It is still a very long epic. Perhaps I'll get a chance to tell more later."

"So did this Niobe woman have a devil fruit power, or what?"

"Likely," Robin replied. "These legends are not meant to be fully accurate to actual history, and so devil fruit powers are often given more mysterious surroundings."

"And Odios was glad that they didn't kill her," Zoro said pointedly.

Robin nodded. "I suppose it's a lesson more people should learn," she admitted. "You shouldn't kill people unnecessarily."

"A lot of wisdom in old stories," Zoro said simply. "You up for lunch?"

"Yes," Robin replied. And with that, she had answered Zoro's question.

**Author's Note:** _Filler chapter here, I'll admit. For the most part, anyway (hint, hint). All of the names in the story were cribbed from Homer's "The Iliad," though applied at random. All but one. People who have played a certain video game series will know where that other name came from. Essentially it's a long form apology from Robin to Zoro, with Robin learning a lesson about her own conduct._

_Next chapter is the halfway point, and turns things sideways ;-) _


	5. Body

5: Body

Zoro could now clearly hear the sound of running water, and Robin continued to head in that direction. She had been leading him this way for some time, and so had likely known about it for a while, gaining the information via her Hana Hana parts. Beyond a veil of leaves lay a broad waterfall which fell into a shallow stream. The waterfall fell onto a small shelf of rocks, then spread into a pool, in which swam many colorful fish.

"You ready for dinner?" Zoro asked. Fishing here would be pretty easy, and it was closing in on dinnertime.

"In time," Robin said. "We should each take a shower first, though."

Zoro lifted his arm up and took a sniff. "Yeah," he admitted. "Probably time for that."

"Would you like to go first?" Robin offered.

Zoro shook his head. "You go ahead. I'll set up camp in that clearing over there. I think I saw some deadwood in the jungle that would make good firewood."

Robin nodded. She was taking off her boots as Zoro turned and left her, plowing back into the undergrowth in search of that clutch of deadwood that he had seen but a few minutes before.

It had been an odd day for the two of them, and a long one for Zoro, who had been up since the middle of the night, keeping watch over Robin after he had slept. Having nothing to do but watch Robin all night had gotten Zoro thinking about his crewmate, from seeing a side of her that he had never seen, both softer and more vulnerable as she slept. The incident with the hunter that morning had quickly banished those new-formed thoughts, as he saw her try to kill a helpless man.

From the morning and past lunch they hadn't spoken to each other, as he remembered Robin for what she had been, when she had first joined the crew over two years ago. Then she had apologized, in a way that only she could, it seemed, by recounting one of the legends she must have learned from one of her books. He did feel bad for his retort: that they could have killed her for being their enemy back in Alabasta. Knowing her, she probably harbored a fair amount of guilt for that whole saga with Baroque Works, somewhere under her inscrutable exterior. He was grateful for her apology, however. Part of her knew better than to just kill people who were no longer a threat to you, but she must have some deep-seated survival instincts leading to some remorseless habits. He wondered if she would have tried killing the man if Luffy or the others had been around.

Either way, he was glad for the apology. They were going to have to work together to get through this, and it would be much easier to work with a friend. There was something else about spending time with her that Zoro enjoyed, something he could not quite put his finger on.

After a few minutes, he found the pile of deadwood he had been looking for, and with a few quick strokes of his sword, he had his bundle of firewood. Now all he had to do was turn around and go back through the jungle to the campsite.

Easier said than done.

"Damn jungle," Zoro grumbled. He fumbled through bushes and great, hanging fronds with his burden of firewood until he finally heard the sound of falling water anew. He had to be getting closer to the clearing, right? It had to be just through this bush…

Now, there are some moments in life that, measured in real time, are but instants: an hour, a minute, maybe thirty seconds. But despite the small amount of time these moments take up, they can change a man's (or woman's) life forever. This was an instant, though it barely measured thirty seconds on the clock, had a great impact upon the life of Roronoa Zoro.

He pushed through the bush to see, not the campsite, but the waterfall. Robin was there, of course, with her back turned towards him, rubbing her body with an aromatic herb leaf (soap, of course, being out of supply). Her clothes sat on a rock above the waterline, folded neatly. He could only see her from behind, but he could, indeed, see her behind, with her peach-toned skin soaking wet and shimmering in the sunlight.

Roronoa Zoro, man of action, could have gotten out of there quickly, had he not been so shocked at the sight of Nico Robin's naked ass. A moment's hesitation (a mere fraction of that fateful instant) here, well, it could have cost him dearly, but that wasn't quite the case.

Robin turned, lost in the simple joy of her first shower in over 48 hours, rubbing the leaf down her arm. Almost automatically, Zoro's eye was drawn to her, the man's capacity to notice fine details being very handy in such a situation. All of her curves were now visible: her full breasts, hourglass figure, wide hips, long, wet, silken black hair above, and a patch of dark hair below concealing her womanhood from full view. Every inch of her was stunning, soaking wet and shimmering in the sunlight. The water must have been a little cold, as her pink nipples arrowed outwards.

Zoro absorbed all of these glorious details before he had a chance to react. But before he could flee, Robin opened her eyes, seeing him standing there with the bundle of firewood still in his hands. Her eyes widened in the next instant.

"Zoro!" she screamed, dropping the leaf and moving one arm to cover her breasts with her other hand shooting down to further hide her womanhood. "What are you…!?"

"Tch!" Zoro grunted loudly, a visceral, instinctive reaction to the mess. He dropped the wood, which clattered to the forest floor, the noise reverberating around the jungle.

They had just another instant before Zoro's senses picked up something new: something unseen. "Get down!" he roared, leaping forward towards the naked woman. He grabbed her body and flung both of them down into the pool.

_Ping!_ An all-too-familiar crossbow bolt glanced off the rock behind the waterfall, spinning harmlessly into the pool.

Zoro shoved Robin to the shallow edge of the pool, where she could at least stand up and not have her powers sapped by the water. Forgetting her shame for a moment, she looked at him, and he at her, both of them understanding what needed to be done.

In a flash, Zoro was off, as Robin sprouted Hana Hana hands around the area to watch his progress. Observation Haki allowed him to feel where this hunter was firing from, and he knew she could not see the hunter without some sensory hint. So she would follow him, and bring her powers to bear on their enemy.

_Ping!_ Zoro deflected a second crossbow bolt which flew out of the shrubbery covering a nearby hill. Zoro zipped quickly amongst the trees towards the source of the firing. He appeared before the hunter, swords raised for the kill. The hunter was wearing the same kind of forest-green clothes as the last one, but was definitely a different person, probably called in by the sound of their earlier yelling and him dropping the wood.

Zoro bore down on the hunter, but the hunter leapt backwards skillfully, trying to flee back under cover. His first leap took him towards a tree branch which was already covered in Hana Hana hands.

"Gah!" the hunter grunted. "What the!?" To his credit, the hunter regained his composure quickly as he saw Zoro leaping towards him. Even as he struggled in the grip of the Hana Hana hands, he raised his crossbow for a point-blank shot at the swordsman.

Zoro's blow fell just as the bolt flew from the crossbow: a sure, downward strike from Sendai Kitetsu which cleaved the hunter's metal bolt in half in midflight, then the hunter's crossbow, and then the hunter, whose lifeless body was now left in Robin's arms.

_And that,_ Zoro thought_, is when you can kill a guy_. He leapt down off the tree branch and back onto the hillside.

"So it is a different one," Robin said. Zoro turned in shock, looking for the source of her voice. He soon spotted her… well, half of her, from the torso up, sprouting out of the tree. She had her short brown leather top back on.

"What?" she asked, noticing his bemused gaze. "Were you expecting to see more of me?"

Zoro blushed, but also scowled as he noticed the mocking smile on her lips.

_Damn her._

She was going to have fun with this, wasn't she?

**Author's Note:** _A bit of an abrupt end, but what's going on will be elaborated upon next. Also, yes, Devil Fruit users still lose their power in any standing body of water. I checked._


	6. Glance

6. Glance

"Alright," Zoro declared. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Okay," Robin replied. "I'll be _right here_." She emphasized the last words with a winning smile on her face. She left unspoken the part that suggested "that means I won't walk in on you showering, like you did with me."

Zoro retreated sheepishly, unable to bring a retort to mind. Robin set about starting a campfire in his absence.

As Zoro showered, the sun began set over Durga islet while Robin absently sliced fruit for their dinner. Unlike last night, her job was now much easier thanks to the small carving knife that they had despoiled from the slain hunter. The hunter had yielded a significant bounty for the two stranded pirates: he had a traveling pack with him that contained a field kit, which along with the knife had contained field rations, matches and camphor for starting fires, a sleeping bag, a water skin, and even a flask which Zoro had verified as containing some sort of liquor. Really, Robin wished that they had despoiled the last hunter they defeated, though their argument from this morning had caused both of them to miss that opportunity.

The two pirates had set up their campsite after despoiling the hunter, and now Robin had started a fire using some of the hard-won supplies. Afterwards Robin had retrieved fruit, and then Zoro had gone to take his shower under the nearby waterfall. Robin had, of course, established a sensory perimeter with her Hana Hana powers, helping to make sure the area was secure from further attack. Her sensory extension was the cause of the gentle smile which played on her face as she cut the fruit. Fruit was on tonight's menu because their earlier antics in the water had scared off all the fish.

A rustling sound heralded Zoro's return from his shower, and Robin concealed her smile. Unlike herself, Zoro had gotten the liberty of using a towel to dry off, another spoil of the slain hunter. He looked a little sheepish still, having born that same, deliciously awkward look on his face ever since he had seen her naked, not all that long ago.

"Would you like some fruit?" she asked, offering him some slices of fruit she had set on a large leaf.

"Sure," he replied, taking the leaf and going to sit on the far side of the fire. He ate in silence for a moment, his eye narrowed in suspicion as he looked across the fire at his companion. For her part, Robin worked hard to keep her face neutral and not let any expression creep in. It seemed to take a few moments for his suspicions to take form, before he finally spoke.

"Okay, what gives?" he growled. "You've been teasing me nonstop since I… erh…" he coughed, "and now you're just back to normal, just like that?"

"I rectified the injustice," Robin said simply, pulling her eyes away from Zoro and back to the fruit she was slicing.

"Rectified…" Zoro repeated. Robin stole a glance at him in the ensuing silence. It was fun watching the swordsman's mind at work in cases like this. "You mean you saw me?" Zoro asked, blushing again as he figured it out. "Showering?" He paused, "it was one of those hand-eye things, wasn't it?"

"What are you so worked up about?" Robin asked. "It's not like you're the first man I've ever seen naked." She was thirty years old, after all, even if she spent much of her time in the company of the other Straw Hats, most of whom were still teenagers or barely into their twenties, like Zoro.

"I guess not?" Zoro replied, in a tone that made it clear he had never given the matter much thought.

"And I can't possibly be the first woman you've seen naked," Robin continued. Her eyes shot back to him as he shifted uncomfortably. It was hard to tell whether he was embarrassed because she really had been the first woman he'd seen in the nude, whether she actually was not, or whether he was simply embarrassed by this whole line of questioning.

"Er…" he replied simply.

"So that's that," Robin said finally. "We're both adults, this is not a big deal."

Zoro seemed to accept that answer, and went back to eating his fruit. Eventually Robin finished slicing her share of fruit as well, and started eating too. They ate in silence for a time, occasionally glancing at each other over the fire.

The awkward silence led to Robin beginning to second-guess herself. If it was not, as she said, a big deal, then why did she bother looking at him in the first place? She had the power to spy on any of her crewmates at any time, and yet Zoro was, indeed, the first of the male Straw Hats that she had seen in the nude (amusingly, she had not actually seen Franky's manhood in the incident when she had, quite literally, held it hostage in order to convince him to join the crew, though she had touched it).

So why Zoro, and why now? "Rectification of an injustice" certainly had something to do with it. Truthfully, she had felt rather shocked when Zoro had seen her naked. It bothered her in a way that it should not have, a thirty-year-old woman who was not a virgin by any means. She felt, in a strange way, a need to "get even" in that case, which had involved spying on him in the shower.

Part of it, too, was mere curiosity. The last two days had seen them stranded together in close quarters, leading her to think more intently about the crew's swordsman, wanting to know more about him. She had always thought he looked ruggedly handsome, and her peek earlier had certainly done much to verify that assessment, but she had always felt some of the others were handsome too: Sanji certainly, and even Luffy seemed to have gained a cast-iron charm after his time training with Silvers Rayleigh.

She glanced at Zoro again as he now drank from the flask that they had recovered from the hunter. There was no good explanation for her conduct around him; why she was so much more interested in teasing him, in seeing him, in thinking about him, than their other crewmates. What was the attraction to this man?

"You want some?" Zoro asked, noticing her glance after he took a draught of liquor.

His sudden offer shook her out of her contemplations. "Sure," she replied. It wasn't coffee, but it would be nice to have something other than stream water. Zoro stepped around the fire to give her the flask, then shrugged and sat down near her.

Robin took a sip from the flask and shuddered; it was a sweet liquor, but very strong. It was not quite to her taste, but good enough for more. She took another pull, longer this time, before sitting back to let the warmth of the drink seep through her body. The heady feeling caused her a moment's disquiet, because now was not the time to get intoxicated: she still had her perimeter up and Zoro needed his wits about him too. The feeling stabilized in a moment, however, and she returned to her thoughts.

This whole affair did beg the question of why she liked to tease Zoro. If she was an adult, like she claimed, why was she handling this almost as if she were still a teenager? A real woman didn't tease, she just _did,_ whatever her heart dictated. She teased because it was fun, she supposed, but why was that so?

Robin glanced over at Zoro as she wondered. He had intrigued her form the beginning, that man whose stubborn, resolute nature had led him to initially reject her. She had learned later the depths of his bighearted, self-sacrificing nature, he was a match for any of their crewmates in that regard, despite his hard-edged tendencies. This man, whose rock-hard resolve and inner strength were matched by a chiseled body which bore significant outer strength.

Robin glanced at Zoro again as he absently gazed into the fire. She wondered what he was thinking. Maybe he was having the same thoughts that she was. Maybe all she had to do was reach out, right now, and all of her curiosities could be…

_Pop._ A log burst in the fire, snapping Robin out of her self-imposed trance. Her posture straightened as she came back to her senses. What was she thinking? It was natural for her to be re-evaluating what she thought of the swordsman: this experience was greatly strengthening their bond as crewmates. But that was all. Anything else was just her overreacting to a series of contrived coincidences. She had to refocus on the task at hand.

"We should get going," Robin said, handing the flask back to Zoro. "It's getting dark."

"Right," he replied. "We have to find somewhere safer to spend the night."

_Spend the night…_ Robin shoved the stray thought aside, quite forcibly. It was a product of the liquor (though she had drunk very little), or of a form of cabin fever. She was not thinking rationally.

They doused the campfire, and headed on into their second night.

**Author's Note:** _There but for the crack of a log, huh? No, nothing significant yet. Also yeah, not quite going to go into detail for Zoro's body like I did for Robin's, though she gets a few good points in secondhand in her account here. Note that I have not even employed the "L" word here. Up next, a more action-y chapter._


	7. Monster

7. Monster

After noon on the third day, the land began to climb. Zoro and Robin had finally reached the base of the mountain that dominated the far end of Durga islet, and had begun to rise up out of heavily-forested jungle towards a more gently-covered highland. Somewhere, far up those slopes, was where this "Commander Subahu" dwelt, and apparently piloted the island. From there, they would be able to overthrow him, take over the island, and return to Rig Maratha and the others.

Ever since they had broken clear of the trees, Robin had led Zoro this way and that, apparently searching for something.

"Didn't that first guy we fought say the entrance was at the base of the mountain?" Zoro asked. "Shouldn't we be looking further down?"

"I already have," Robin explained. "The route I took to get us here allowed me to see the mountain's entire base."

"So that guy was lying?"

"Partially," Robin said.

"I guess," Zoro continued slowly, "I don't know how you sail an island, but whatever it takes to do that, it's gotta be big."

"Precisely," Robin replied. "And there is no other side to the mountain. This is the end of Durga Island."

"So what are you looking for?"

"A stream or… ah," Robin interrupted herself, pushing through a row of thick bushes. "A dry streambed."

Zoro arched an eyebrow, but dropped the matter. Answers from Robin always seemed to lead to more questions like this. The whole "riddle wrapped in a mystery" line to describe women was some of the clichéd garbage that would someone like the idiot Love Cook would spout, but a woman like Nico Robin helped Zoro understand exactly where the phrase came from. She had joined the crew under mysterious circumstances, flipping from mortal enemy to a member of their crew in a matter of days. She had always kept secrets since then: some as large as the truth of her perilous past, some small and insignificant, but secrets still. He had to admit that her inscrutable nature kept her interesting, at least; she was not nearly as predictable as Nami, for one.

These last few days had been a perfect example of her unpredictability. The capricious way in which she had wandered off to follow a ruined roadway (and his idea to follow her in case she got in trouble) had gotten them into this mess in the first place. The cruel way in which she had almost put the defeated hunter to death unnecessarily, followed by her longwinded apology in the form of that ancient story. Was it in-character for her to even apologize like that? Things had only gotten yet stranger after the apology, when he had inadvertently seen her in the nude and she had teased him for it, she had retaliated by spying on him in the shower as well, and then she had topped it off with the strangest bit so far: ending her teasing with some line about how they were "both adults" and that the whole thing shouldn't be a big deal to them.

She had been very quiet after that, though Zoro had noticed her eyes on him an inordinate amount of times. They had slept in shifts again that night, and now, on the third day, she seemed to be back to "normal," or at least as far as normal went for the inscrutable woman that was Nico Robin. He had to admit that the journey had taught him a lot about her, even if he was no closer to actually understanding her. He had seen many different shades of Robin on this journey, finding a woman who was resourceful, morbid, playful, drop-dead beautiful, relentless, quick-thinking, at times vulnerable, and mature. Zoro liked those things about her, and was glad that he had been given an opportunity to learn about them. He just wondered what his newfound knowledge would mean for their relationship as crewmates once this was all over…

Zoro continued to ponder the mysteries of his companion as they followed the dry streambed up the mountainside. One mystery that worked itself out quickly enough was the need to find a streambed: doing so had given Robin a sure pathway up the mountain; meandering at times but always leading upwards.

After an hour or so of hiking, they reached a sizable plateau in the mountainside, where the land leveled off while the streambed began to dig itself into a gulley. Eventually the gulley opened into a bowl-like area, about thirty feet across with rock walls on either side. The long-extinct stream must have made a pond here, once. Robin paused when they arrived, as the way ahead was no longer clear, but that was the least of their worries.

Zoro felt it only an instant before it was upon them. "Move!" he shouted, pointing forwards. Robin dashed to the far wall while Zoro turned to meet the threat head on. Nothing was coming, at least nothing he could see. He could _feel_ the killing intent, and the arc of the monster's dive, but he could not… no, his eye quickly picked up twin flashes of red before the monster made contact. Zoro had drawn two swords, and keen claws met them with a clash as of steel on steel.

He felt a rush of air as the beast leapt back for a second strike, and Zoro braced, but the monster held back, instead fading into view. It had fur of a dark grey, the head and wings of a bat, but bore itself low to the ground like a great mountain lion. Its eyes glared a searing red, and it had a long tail bristling with grey spikes.

"No way…" he heard Robin breathe, awestruck. For it was indeed a legend brought to life: the Lucent Nargacuga.

Zoro grinned broadly. A chance to fight a beast known for challenging legendary heroes didn't come every day.

Instead, Robin struck first. "Gigantesco Mano!" A gargantuan arm sprouted out of the ground, the hand slapping down towards the monster in an attempt to squash it.

The Nargacuga met the giant hand with relish, going after it with teeth and claws bared. It struck the giant hand mid-palm, tearing in and causing Robin to shudder in pain.

"Just stay back!" Zoro cautioned, drawing his third sword and gripping it in his teeth. "I got this!" he added, a wolfish grin forming on his features. The Nargacuga roared, sounding again like a mountain lion, and the battle was joined.

They clashed back and forth, with Zoro aiming for a fatal blow into the beast's torso, while the Nargacuga alternately tried to rush the swordsman with its fangs or pound him into the grass with its great tail. Occasionally the beast would disappear, but Zoro could still track it with Observation Haki, as well as spying the light from its eyes, leaving flickering trails as if they were a pair of crimson fireflies. Occasionally the beast would target Robin, but Zoro could always meet it before it got anywhere near her. Once or twice the beast tried to fire off its poison spikes, but Zoro marked them and deflected them with his blades.

The Nargacuga put up a good fight, especially in its ability to dodge Zoro's ranged "cannon" attacks, meaning that Zoro had to keep close to it if he wanted a chance to wound it. Soon Zoro got a chance, and then another. The beast itself got in a few good scratches here and there, at one point tearing the back of Zoro's shirt open, but it soon became clear that Zoro was winning their bout, if only by degrees.

But the Nargacuga had one trick left to play: it crouched down, low to the ground, and began waving its tail, almost as if it were a happy dog. Zoro glared at it, perplexed by this new move, but a moment later the beast let fly a shower of poisoned darts, not towards Zoro, not even towards Robin, but every which way.

Fired off at blinding speed in every direction, many of the darts ricocheted off the walls. The monster had no intention of sending them at any specific target, and by that means was Zoro's Observation Haki thwarted. The swordsman's instincts were still sharp, his reflexes still keen, but without foreknowledge of where the darts were coming from, he could not block them all.

"Hrgh!" Zoro grunted in pain as three of the darts found their mark, two piercing the side of his torso, one piercing his outer thigh.

He remembered this part of the legend, too, of what had happened to the great warrior Odios in his fight with the beast: poison. Zoro's vision swam, and he had a brief feeling of dizziness, but managed to stay upright.

"Zoro!" he heard Robin call. He spared a precious instant to turn and glance at her: she was unharmed, and had managed to climb out of the bowl, now standing on the edge and looking down at him in concern.

Had he not been poisoned, he would have been fine sparing a glance her way, but as he was, his sluggish reaction time left him prey to the monster's next strike. Zoro tried to meet a headlong rush with his blades, but only half-blocked it. Instead of getting gored, he was hit heavily, launched off of his feet and into the far wall.

"Zoro!" Robin called again, definite fear in her voice this time. Zoro picked himself up swiftly, knowing there was no time to spare. His vision was getting dimmer, and he had to end this now or he'd be dead… and then Robin would be too. She was strong in her own right, but this monster was a mismatch for her powers and it was a hopeless match for her. That was why he needed to overcome the poison, and win _now_.

The monster stopped in its next rush, turning to look at its tail. It yelped and shouted in shock and annoyance. Zoro squinted, trying to see what was happening, though could only make the dim outline of some of Robin's hands… doing something on the beast's tail. The Nargacuga yelped loudly, then he heard the sound of Hana Hana hands dissolving, and the beast's eyes were back on him.

Zoro braced himself, but the swift assault did not come. The Nargacuga stood before him, growling, but its breathing sounded labored. Only a few seconds later did it strike, and even so poisoned, Zoro effortlessly leapt aside.

But Zoro knew that he was failing too. Whatever Robin had done to the monster, he had to take advantage of the opening. He squared off against the monster as it turned once again to face him, growling. Zoro sheathed two swords, pulling Wado Ichimonji from his teeth and holding it instead. "One Sword Style:" he grunted, "Lion's Song!"

The swordsman struck true against the beast's torso, and its dark blood spilled forth, mortally wounded. It howled once, the epitome of pain and impotent rage, then collapsed to the ground.

The attack had done almost as much damage to Zoro in his weakened state. To focus on such an attack with poison coursing through his veins: the poison was spreading throughout his body now, and he collapsed too.

He heard Robin's scream, not even of his name, but a pure expression of desperation. He heard her land on the grass and then rush over to his side.

"Poisoned," Zoro managed to grunt out, as he saw her face hovering over his. "…like the story."

"You'll be all right, Zoro," Robin said, now a little calmer. "I won't let you die."

As Zoro passed into unconsciousness, he knew that was the truth.

**Author's Note:** _Debated on whether to switch perspectives after Zoro got poisoned, but decided to stick with it. The major downside there is that it's not quite clear what Robin did, though "she" will, of course, explain that in back-end narration next round. Now she's alone, with a poisoned (possibly dying?) Zoro to look after. Well well, stay tuned!_

_PS: Yes, it was a deliberate effort to catch those of you who skipped over the filler. Also, does nobody who reads this story play Monster Hunter? Just google the Lucent Narg._


	8. Touch

8. Touch

"We should be safe here," Robin said. Her companion couldn't hear her, of course: Robin was saying it more for her own benefit. She could hear herself, though, as there was a second Robin just behind the first, bearing the poisoned Roronoa Zoro in her arms. After Zoro had passed out, Robin had taken him up, out of the bowl where he had fought and slain the Lucent Nargacuga, and immediately set about looking for somewhere where the two of them could hide while he (she prayed) recovered. Using a sensory perimeter of Hana Hana eyes, she had quickly identified a very small cave none too far from the bowl.

She had spent the precious minutes that it took to get Zoro over to the cave cursing herself. She had known the Kalydon for almost a decade now, known of the Nargacuga's poison and that the beast was vulnerable to its own venom, if redirected in its body. She had not thought to sprout hands on the beast's tail, pluck out some poisoned darts, and stab them right back into the veins of the monster until Zoro himself had already been poisoned. It had been enough to weaken the monster to let Zoro eke out a victory, but it could not turn back time and stop the man from being poisoned.

Zoro had been silent since falling unconscious, and was breathing evenly. From Robin's limited knowledge on the subject (half-remembered from casually reading one of Chopper's books on infections and poisoning), the silence was a good thing: if he started to breathe heavily, make noises, or become restless, those were more dangerous signs. Of course, all venoms worked differently, and she doubted that the authors of Chopper's book had ever seen a victim of the Lucent Nargacuga, but they were good enough guidelines to follow.

One thing she knew, it was probably not a good idea to be moving Zoro around so much with poison in his veins, but this was inevitable. The Kalydon never suggested that the Lucent Nargacuga was the only one of its kind (it must have been imported, for Zeleia was far away in the West Blue), and it was highly possible that another beast was around. Equally, the sharp-eyed hunters could shoot at them from the mountaintop if they camped somewhere on the slope. Zoro needed to be hidden away from both of them.

The cave she had found was thus perfect: the entrance was barely wide enough for Zoro's bulkier frame to fit through: a Nargacuga could not hope to fit inside and wouldn't bother looking for prey in a space that small, and neither would the hunters be able to see them.

Robin carefully crawled through the short tunnel into the cave, making it inside. She then had her Hana Hana clone set Zoro down and carefully push him in. In an odd corner of her mind that could still notice such things, Robin noticed that the air in the cave was quite comfortable and not stuffy at all: there must have been some cracks somewhere to facilitate airflow.

Before Zoro was comfortably inside the cave, Robin reached into the traveling pack they had plundered from the slain hunter, pulling out the towel and the sleeping bag, spreading them out so that Zoro didn't have to lie on the dirt floor. Then she had her clone finish pushing Zoro inside before dissolving it.

Robin looked at Zoro as he lay there, his features obscured by the dim light which still filtered through the cave entrance. He was so quiet, so still, he could well be dead.

"No," she said aloud, shoving that thought aside forcibly. She turned back to him and set to work. From what she remembered from Chopper's book, the best thing for someone who was poisoned by venom, if you did not happen to have any antivenom handy, was sucking the poison out of the wound and hoping that the subject's immune system could handle the rest. It had been a while since Zoro had been poisoned, but there would still be some left in the wounds at this point. She had to try it.

Robin started by taking off Zoro's shirt. She removed it carefully, trying not to disturb his body any more than she had to. She looked down at his chest, and thought guiltily of how she had spied on him last evening. At least she was looking at him for the right reasons this time.

She traced the wounds to where there had been holes in Zoro's shirt, on the side of his torso just below the line of his ribcage. It was already rather hard to spot the wounds: the darts had been very fine and sharp, and had not done much actual damage to his skin beyond the poisoning.

Her heart fluttered as she leaned in towards Zoro's chest, a mix of fear and a strange anticipation inside her, accompanied by a fresh surge of guilt. Those strange feelings from the night before were coming back at the most inappropriate time as she traced her fingers over Zoro's skin, in the area around the wounds. But she had a job to do, and she put away her feelings, instead leaning in and fastening her lips first to one wound, then another.

Once she had finished drawing what she could out of the wounds in his torso, spitting the contents out onto the cave floor and rinsing her mouth out with some water from the water-skin, she turned her attention downward. Zoro's other wound had been on his outer thigh, so now she had to remove his khaki pants and, yes, his boxer shorts. Robin's heart again fluttered at the sight of Zoro lying naked beneath her, and again she felt a surge of guilt. This was not the time for her womanly fantasies: not now, and not with him. She was an adult, operating in a medical emergency and just doing what it took to save a friend.

Robin sucked the poison out of Zoro's thigh quickly, wanting to cover his manhood back up and still the beating of her heart. She was just about to try re-applying his boxers when Zoro suddenly convulsed.

"No…" she breathed. Zoro shivered mightily and groaned in his unconsciousness. Could sucking the poison out of the wounds somehow made it worse on him? Robin tried to force herself to calm down; panicking now would only hurt him. She took out the water skin again, then put her fingers between the swordsman's lips, carefully opening his mouth before pouring some water down his throat. He swallowed reflexively and did not struggle. Robin took his shirt and poured some water on it, then placed it upon his forehead. This last was a more appropriate response for a fever, but it was something. She had to do something…

But she couldn't do anything else, and that was the hard truth. Nico Robin, a woman who had fought for her life from childhood, who had learned early on that the only way to survive a situation was to be in control of it, was now at the mercy of fate itself.

Zoro was still shivering as tears welled up in Robin's eyes, but she brushed them away. Crying would do just as much good as panicking. She looked at Zoro as he continued to shiver, and then did the only thing she could think of: she lay herself down beside him and wrapped her arms around his muscular frame, embracing him gently, but firmly. He convulsed again at first, but his shivering lessened, though it did not abate.

Robin clung to Zoro like that for a long time, until she too passed into darkness…

~0~

It was a sensation of wetness which awoke Nico Robin, many hours later. Something wet was running itself over her nose, her cheeks, her lips. A rush of feelings stirred through her all in an instant: memories of her desperation at how she was powerless to help Zoro against the poison, a feeling of curiosity as to what was so wet and so insistent against her face, and a feeling of hot shame that she had fallen asleep in the hour of Zoro's need. She had needed the sleep, of course, two nights of light sleep and three days of hiking and fighting taking their toll even on the notorious light sleeper, but anything could have happened.

There was a rustle of movement, and Robin suddenly realized that while she was still embracing Zoro, as she had been when she had fallen asleep, he was now embracing her, too. The wetness came from his searching lips and his gentle tongue: he was kissing her.

"Zoro!" Robin said in shock, too many emotions clouding her mind in that moment to know anything but surprise. "You…" she opened her eyes to see that his face was very close to hers, barely visible by the ambient moonlight, and soon her protests were cut short as Zoro locked lips with her open mouth.

She closed her mouth almost instinctively, receiving his kiss. Kissing him was wild and impossible, purely inexplicable. Was he in a fever dream, hallucinating some fantasy in the grip of the venom? But no, while his body warmth wrapped around her, she could feel that his temperature was normal, though his naked body was coated with sweat. He must have beaten the poison sometime in the passes of the night.

"Zoro…" she said again as he broke off the kiss. "What is this?" she managed to ask.

"I don't know," Zoro replied, his voice low and rough in her ear. It was a statement of ignorance, of indecision, but he said it with such conviction that Robin was able to derive her answer. He was kissing her not for any reason he could explain, but because it felt right.

And it did feel right. There, in the cave, thrown together by a long series of wild events and contrived coincidences, the two comrades were discovering something new about themselves, and something new about each other. The good reasons not to do this (and there were many of them), seemed now so small and far away, like stars in the sky or an island left far behind on the horizon, soon to vanish altogether. The moment was here, and that was all that was important.

Robin began moving more now, running her arms over Zoro's sweat-drenched back, up and down until she reached the small of his back and came near to his well-toned ass. Zoro responded in kind, rubbing her back with his powerful hands, and also reaching down and feeling the curvature of her ass through her sun dress. His seeking fingers trailed up her exposed midriff, hooking underneath her leather jacket and pulling it up and away. She undid her bra herself, letting her breasts hang free for a moment before they were pressed up against the swordsman's sweaty, chiseled chest.

Zoro's hands ran back up, grabbing her breasts and massaging them in his hands, rolling her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and causing her to gasp. "Ah!"

Not to be outdone, Robin moved her hands down to his cock, which was fully erect and digging into her thighs, still covered in her sun dress. She ran her hands up and down the length of his shaft, feeling its pulse. Zoro drew his breath in a hiss at her touch. Having given him that sample, Robin then pulled away, giving her time to undo the knot that held her sun dress in place, and then to pull down and discard her panties as well.

Now wholly naked, she fell forward onto his body, with him lying on his back still, and her on top of him, chest to chest. She took in the smell of him, pressing her breasts against his rock-hard chest before sliding her thighs down towards his cock. The passion of their encounter so far had made her wet enough to proceed from here. She teased his hard cock against the opening of her wet pussy, grinding her hips somewhat.

Zoro growled in frustration and pulled her waist downwards, bringing her pussy down to encircle his cock. Both pirates moaned simultaneously.

Though Robin was no virgin, it had indeed been a long time since she had had a sexual encounter, and the first such experience with someone who cared for her. It was as much about the emotional context for her as the physical pleasure of bucking her hips, of feeling the swordsman's manhood pound deep inside her. It was wrong to do this with him, so wrong, and would complicate their relationship in ways that she could not fathom, but she was not concerned with that now as she met his assault and they joined in physical bliss. Yes, this was very wrong, but at the same time it was oh so very _right_.

And so she embraced it, and embraced him, rocking against his body and melting against the touch of that man, long into the night.

**Author's Note:** _And so we've arrived. I tried to play up the "wrongness" of it in the chapter, even beyond Robin's misgivings about her feelings for Zoro from chapter 6. Essentially I cranked the "wrongness" up by having it be in this cramped, hidden cave, while Zoro was recovering from the poison, to essentially "force" a release to the sexual tension that neither character might normally propose under rational circumstances. _

_To address also the anon who stated that I was making Robin "weak", I apologize. My intent was that Robin was mismatched against the Narg: it could counterattack against her Gigantesco attacks, and her "normal" attacks wouldn't affect it. She did figure out a way to contribute, but a little late. I do appreciate the anonymous reviews, and all of the thoughtful reviews I have received so far. Do keep feeding me your thoughts on how things are proceeding!_


	9. Conflict

Chapter 9: Conflict

**Author's Pre-Note:** _Two notes I forgot to add to the last chapter were that I borrowed the concept of Robin reading Chopper's medical books from kiboojosama's story "Not Just a Woman" (y'all should read it too!). Secondly, sucking poison from wounds is no longer medically advisable. Please look elsewhere for guidance into what you are supposed to do when stung/bitten by a venomous animal._

"There they are!" the hunter shouted, pointing out the two pirates who had just battered down the gate to gain entrance into Commander Subahu's mountain lair. "Get them!"

Some of the hunters bore their crossbows, while others had swords. The former fired bolts at the two figures, but the swordsman moved like lightning to intercept them. Meanwhile, arms sprouted on their bodies, and they were swiftly neutralized as the swordsman met the enemy swordsmen directly.

_Zoro was glad for the fight, as it finally gave him something to think about other than the inexplicable events of the night before. He had spent the entire journey up the mountainside replaying last night's events in his head: he had awoken in a sweat, finding himself in Robin's arms. He had experienced a veritable sea of emotions upon seeing Robin, fast asleep and yet curled about him protectively, remembering how she had helped him against the Nargacuga, how she had saved his life. _

"Treinta Fleur: Clutch!" Three more of the snipers went down, this time before they even had a chance to get off a shot. These seemed less able than the snipers they had fought outside, though perhaps they were just at a disadvantage in close quarters. Either way, the pirates roared forward easily, descending deeper into the mountain's interior

_What had followed had been instinctive, partly guided by his body and partly guided by his confused, but strong, feelings for Nico Robin. He had made love with her, for reasons that he had been completely unable to articulate, and still did not quite understand. He had sex with her, and it had been amazing._

"Tatsumaki!" Zoro shattered a formation of hunters who had tried to ambush them in a small chamber which formed the crux of several passageways. The hunters' bodies scattered everywhere, and the two pirates hurried onward, no time to check whether they had left living or dead in their wake. Zoro and Robin both knew, from long experience in battle, that moving quickly was the best way to keep the enemy from formulating an effective counterattack.

_His desire to have sex with her, and the beautiful outcome of his impulsive, irrational decision to do so, left him with one central question, quickly devolving into an inner conflict in the swordsman's mind. "What does Robin mean to me?" Sure she was physically attractive, but so were many women that Zoro knew, some of whom he had spent a fair amount of time with and yet had never had such a serious impulse to have sex with them, beyond the norm of the odd stray fantasy of the young male mind. Sure she was a fellow Straw Hat, which meant that he had a deeper bond with her than he shared with most other women, but Nami had been a Straw Hat longer still, and he had never developed feelings remotely resembling these for her. _

Another crux, another set of hallways leading further into the mountain.

"I'm not sure where we should go," Robin said. It was the first time they had verbally communicated since penetrating the mountain. Of course it wasn't all going to be easy, even before they reached Commander Subahu.

"Don't look at me," Zoro offered. _Ping!_ He deflected a crossbow bolt that came at him from the left. "Probably not that way," he said, pointing to the right.

Robin crossed her arms and shut her eyes, focusing further as Zoro deflected a few more crossbow bolts. "That way," she said finally. "It's down there."

_Sure, they were compatible in several dimensions: they had similar tastes in humor and were more wary of the dangers of the world than some of their companions, but what did any of that mean? That he was in love with her? There was no good reason to come to that conclusion, for their similarities were balanced by many differences: Robin was bookish, and her passion lay with history and with social justice, things which did not especially concern the swordsman in his quest for honor and glory, and his efforts to cultivate his body more than his mind. Not that he thought of himself as dumb, of course, but she was definitely an intellectual and he, decidedly, was not. _

"Don't!" Robin barked, reaching out and forcibly tugging Zoro back around the corner, out of the line of fire. It was the first time she had made contact with him all day.

"What?" Zoro protested. "Just because these ones are using guns doesn't mean I still can't take 'em."

"Didn't you see those barrels they were hiding behind?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Barrels shaped like that are only used in the New World for storing gunpowder," Robin said.

Zoro spared her a questioning glance, but he didn't really doubt her. "So I go in and don't cut the barrels," he said.

"They might be trying for a sacrificial attack," Robin said. "Even if they perish, they could block the passageway."

Zoro suddenly heard screams and the sound of breaking bones. The gunshots ceased.

"There," Robin said. "Now we can proceed."

_But what, then, was the alternative? That last night had been a biology-inspired fluke, a random act of casual sex with this woman who did happen to mean so much to him? That answer did not seem valid either. And what, then, of Robin? What did she feel for him? _

~0~

"So yins two are really Straw Hat pirates, huh?" The woman spat on the ground in contempt. "Lord Sugriva said he'd take care of the lot of yins, so we could go on our raids like normal."

Zoro and Robin stood at the far end of a large chamber: the "bridge" for Durga Islet of Rig Maratha. Both of them looked yet more disheveled than they had that morning, having fought their way through more than two dozen of the island's hunters. Both looked more than a little bemused by what they now saw, however.

"_What does this mean?" Her mind had buzzed all day long with that question. Again, while she had not been a virgin, last night had been her first time with anyone who cared about her. Sex before, in her old life, had been a survival mechanism, a means to secure through seduction what she otherwise could not. It had been a last resort, and blessedly rare, but a fact of her hard life._

Subahu was a woman: and quite an attractive one at that, with dark brown skin, hair worn in a long braid that reached almost to her waist. She wore a sari, arrayed to show off her shapely legs and her cleavage, but her beauty was not her most defining feature. Her distinctive point, and the reason Zoro and Robin stared, had to be her six arms.

"So let's just get this all outta the way real quick," Subahu said, almost sounding bored. "Name's Subahu, I'm one of Lord Sugriva's Division Commanders. I ate the Hito Hito no Mi: Model Brahmin, so I'm an enlightened woman." She chose this moment to pick her nose with one of her arms. "Just so yins know before I gut ya."

_Now she had lain with a true companion, and she had no frame of reference for what would happen next. Robin could not understand how she felt, let alone how he did, and the answers to both could change so many things. Last night, Zoro had said that he didn't know why he wanted to make love to her, and Robin could surmise that he was either telling the truth, or was actually in love with her and too ashamed to admit it._

Robin watched as Zoro clashed back and forth with Subahu, who had produced six scimitars for her six arms. Robin remembered the stories, that Zoro had fought a six-sword user before. But aside from her crude behavior, Subahu apparently made good use of her "enlightenment," with moves both faster and more certain, more accurate, than the swordsman could muster.

Zoro seemed to relish the challenge, but that wouldn't help them if he was overwhelmed. Robin crossed her arms, and eight more arms sprouted out of Subahu's torso, trying to grab four of the woman's sword-arms. The least Robin could do was level the playing field for him.

_Either possibility could breed awkwardness. If they were, for instance, to become casual lovers, how would the crew take it? She imagined explaining it to Chopper…_

"Yer a real pest, you know that!?" Subahu shouted at Robin, who was grinning unexpectedly. She had managed to shake off Robin's arms, but the distraction had cost her a few cuts from Zoro's swords, pushing her back towards the huge console with which she doubtlessly controlled the entire island.

"Tatsumaki!" Subahu roared, spinning in a circle suddenly and sending Zoro flying with a whirlwind of blades.

"Oi!" Zoro grunted, trying to pick himself up. "That's my move!"

"I ain't see yer name on it!" Subahu said childishly. But then she turned, glaring at Robin as Zoro still struggled to his feet.

_She was a party in this fight, as well. Did she love him? She was reminded of her odd feelings from two nights ago, realizing that they had not been a freak product of the liquor. Of course Zoro had a lot of attractive qualities, but he was far from the ideal mate for her, at least on paper. _

"Lemme just get the pest outta the way!" Subahu tore in towards Robin, too fast for her to summon a Gigantesco Mano with which to deflect the other woman. Robin braced herself, having only an instant in which to fear the end.

**Clang.**

Robin opened her eyes again, seeing the tattered shirt and battle-scarred frame of Roronoa Zoro before her. Somehow he had recovered, flitted across the room even faster than the "enlightened" devil fruit user, and managed to position his swords to block Subahu's more numerous scimitars.

Well, most of them anyway. One cut into Zoro's outer thigh, the blood flowing down his leg.

"You've gotta finish with me first," Zoro grunted.

_Then again, from the many books she had read over the years, legendary love stories rarely involved individuals who were compatible on a logical level: that was what made such love stories so legendary to begin with. _

"You ain't worth the stain on my blades, mosshead," Subahu spat derisively, her blades still locked with Zoro's.

"Cuerpo Fleur."

A second Robin sprouted from Subahu's back, a Robin with six arms of her own.

"Hey, get the fuck off me!" Subahu growled, turning her head as she still managed to hold Zoro in check.

"You shouldn't have said that, you know," Robin said, ignoring the crude woman's protests. "It's a dangerous thing to insult a man in front of the woman who loves him." She smiled down for a second, both at the look of incredulous fury on Subahu's face, and the equally incredulous look of total bemusement on the swordsman's. "Clutch!"

The six-armed Robin seized Subahu's arms, outmaneuvering her deftly. Subahu struggled, but even for a second, all of her sword-arms were occupied.

All Zoro needed. "Oni giri!"

Bloodied and beaten, Subahu fell to the floor, six scimitars clattering free from nerveless arms, the Robin clone dissolving as she fell. Zoro, however, ignored his fallen foe entirely, turning around, his face flushed with a look on his features that made Robin smile again.

"The island is ours," she said simply. "Let's go back."

All Zoro could do was nod.

**Author's Note:** _Not the finale yet folks, but this is the climax. Does it feel like a confession of love out of the blue? It kinda does for me too, but Robin will justify herself in the last chapter, or try to (chapter's from Zoro's perspective). This one took longer to write because the stuff in italics came quickly, but then I really struggled with how to incorporate the actual, physical conflict into the chapter in a way that just didn't feel like filler, alongside the inner, emotional conflict that is obviously of more importance to the plot as a hole. Took me a bit to figure out to make them parallel. Next chapter's last, see ya!_


	10. Cruise

10. Cruise

"So how long is this gonna take?"

"We disrupted Subahu's control of the islet a little after noon yesterday. Presuming they worked in shifts and kept the island sailing constantly, it had been three solid days since Durga detached from Rig Maratha proper. Thus it should take us three days to get back, if I pilot the island nonstop."

"Nonstop?" Zoro asked incredulously. He and Robin were standing in the "bridge" area of Durga Islet, near the control console which was used to steer the islet over the seas, to and from Rig Maratha. Both looked refreshed, having plundered new clothes from the residential area of the mountain base: Zoro wore the forest-green longcoat which had been standard for the hunters, while Robin had found a stylish low-cut floral shirt with a long teal Dupatta skirthopef from Subahu's wardrobe.

"I did just get a full night's sleep, after all," Robin replied. "I should be fine."

After beating Subahu, they had checked the immediate area, finding a video Den Den Mushi system that showed the entire interior of the mountain. Once they had made sure that no able enemy hunters were left in the mountain complex, they soon discovered that there was a residential area a few stories above the "bridge." The residential area, a picturesque villa, was perched on the back of the mountain which, unlike the side the two pirates had ascended, made a mostly-sheer drop into the ocean below, which incidentally provided a clean way to dispose of their slain enemies. The two pirates had spent the night in Subahu's luxurious quarters, with Robin sleeping in the former Commander's bed and Zoro spending the night in a sitting position outside the bedroom door like a guard dog, albeit fast asleep. There had been no suggestion from Robin that he should join her in bed.

Snapping back to the present, Zoro glared at her. "Look, there's no reason to punish yourself. I'm worried about the others too, but they can handle themselves when push comes to shove. Hell, they probably beat that "Lord Sugriva" guy already."

"Perhaps," Robin agreed. "What did you have in mind?" she added.

Zoro cringed. He had had a hard time looking Robin in the eye ever since yesterday, still totally bemused by her sudden confession of love right before he had killed Subahu. He hadn't given her a response to that, and, to her credit, she had not asked for one.

"I dunno," Zoro said finally. "Should be safe to go wandering around this side of the mountain. We should take it easy, do whatever, stop at night to rest."

Some survivors from their attack on the mountain had fled to a port near the mountain, away from the route they had taken to get there. Those survivors had apparently put the fear of god into the raiders at the port, for Zoro and Robin had been able to witness smaller raiding ships at the port fleeing off into the sea, and now, on their fifth day on Durga, they were effectively alone on the islet.

"Then it would probably take closer to five days to get back."

"Like I said, there's no reason to rush and punish yourself."

"I suppose you're right," Robin said. "Though when you say "do whatever," whatever do you mean?"

_There's that teasing tone again,_ Zoro thought. Robin had "gone easy on him" since yesterday, presumably to give him time to think over her confession. Apparently that grace period was over, but why?

Zoro rubbed the back of his head with one hand, again avoiding eye contact. "Go… walking or something," he said. He hadn't really thought of what that would entail. There wasn't much else to do on this island.

"That sounds fun," Robin said simply. "Just let me…" she crossed her arms again, and then a second Robin sprouted up at the complex control panel which guided the mechanisms that caused the islet to "sail" in the first place. The second Robin engaged the controls, starting the engine that would get the islet moving again.

"There we go," she said finally. She could, of course, control the clone directly, and spend all day piloting the island while she also spent all day with him. All day…

Zoro knew what he had to do, of course, but there was a large gap between knowing what needed to be done and actually doing it. He had never been a man to hesitate when the time for action arrived, at least never before this. It wasn't like he had anything to lose, either. He knew she loved him, so his hesitation was not even grounded in fear of rejection.

Zoro supposed it was because he had not really decided whether he loved Robin back. He felt strong feelings for her, that was for certain, but did those feelings really constitute love? What would that mean, if it were true?

So he hesitated, as they left the bridge area of Durga islet, moving upwards to the beautifully terraced gardens which surrounded the villa, perched on the back of the mountain and overlooking the sea. It was an easy place to get distracted in, beautifully maintained with smaller flora than the vast jungle below. For the first twenty minutes, an awkward silence hung between the swordsman and the archaeologist, as they simply walked through the gardens, feeling the cool breeze coming in off the sea.

Finally Zoro could postpone the inevitable no longer, and spoke. "So," he said as they walked through an arbor of some unknown breed of fruit tree, "you love me."

"Yes," Robin replied simply.

"Why?" This was the question that was most galling to him, the question that he felt needed answered before he could understand whether he loved her in turn.

Now Robin paused, both in voice and in motion, no longer walking forward. Zoro stopped alongside her. "I can't really say," she said.

"Typical," Zoro glowered, then realized he had spoken aloud.

Robin laughed softly. "I do mean it this time," she said. "As fun as it may be, I'm not withholding that information to torment you."

"So you **do** like teasing me!" Zoro exclaimed.

"From the beginning," Robin replied. "But that has nothing to do with why."

A pregnant silence followed, as Zoro looked at Robin's face, hoping that her eyes might betray some hint of her true mind.

"Why did I join the Straw Hats?" Robin asked instead.

"You said you wanted to die," Zoro said, after thinking a moment. "You wanted to die and Luffy didn't let you. So you said he had to take responsibility or something."

"Partially," Robin said. "The cynical explanation is that the Straw Hat pirates were the only group who could get me away from Alabasta without being captured."

"Barely," Zoro snorted, remembering their harrowing escape.

"But it was more than that," Robin continued. "The explanation I gave at the time was closer to the truth. The truth was that joining up with Luffy just… felt right. This does too. You feel _right _to me."

"Huh…" Zoro thought that over for a moment. Those were Robin's feelings, but she had just described, quite precisely, how he himself felt. "I thought you would understand it, of all people."

Robin shook her head.

"So we're in the same boat," Zoro continued. "I don't get it either, but I feel the same way about you. I guess…" he hesitated again, his face reddening, "I love you too."

"You _guess_?" Robin asked, in a tone of faux-shock.

"You know what I mean," Zoro groaned. Robin smiled, and started walking again, as if the matter was settled.

Zoro followed alongside her, reflecting on that. After a few minutes, he spoke again. "So what do we do now?"

"Nothing," Robin replied. Zoro turned and gave her a questioning look.

"Just because we're in love doesn't dictate that we have to follow some set of rules, like a script in a play. We are both adults, after all. We're pirates, too. Being a pirate is about being free."

"Nothing, just like that? Then what's the point of a relationship?"

"Anything might be a better word," Robin replied. She reached out and grabbed his hand in hers, prompting him to blush. "There's nothing we have to do now: we can do anything."

They continued walking, hand in hand, for some time, lost in their respective thoughts. Zoro was pondering Robin's earlier statement, "anything or nothing." The longer he thought about it, the more it bothered him. Of course she was right on the surface; they were both adults, and the fact that they were in love with each other and would apparently like to pursue a relationship did not mean they were required to do anything more than what they were doing right now; simply enjoying each other's company.

On the other hand, such a simple relationship felt incomplete. Zoro was no hopeless romantic, not like that damn ero-cook, but he had the feeling that he should express what he felt for Robin in some bolder way than just holding her hand. The fact that this relationship even existed was wild and impossible: it defied rationality. Why should their response to the relationship, then, be so rational? They were Straw Hat pirates, after all. Who would expect them to follow any kind of convention?

Suddenly a stray thought took center stage in Zoro's mind. "Hey," he said as they walked among some large bushes adorned with fragrant flowers. "How did that story with Odios and the witch end?"

Robin gave him a knowing smile before replying. "Niobe gave up her witchcraft and Odios gave up the spear, then they wed and lived peacefully with seven children, each one storied in Zeleian history."

"Huh," Zoro said. Well, that certainly wasn't a solution.

"Indeed. If you're looking for ideas, theirs is not the best solution."

Zoro cringed, and Robin giggled.

The day drew on, and the two pirates returned to the residential complex that sat between the gardens and the base proper. They ate lunch (food too was now plentiful from the plundered stores of Subahu and her minions), and then Robin went to focus her efforts on piloting the island, leaving Zoro alone with a germ of an idea which was beginning to sprout.

~0~

Evening drew on, and the sun once again began to set over Durga Islet as it steadily made its way back to Rig Maratha. The island was headed eastward, with the "bow" of the island being the side furthest from the mountain, while the mountain itself served as the stern.

Robin had sent Zoro a clone a few times in the course of the afternoon, just to reassure him that everything was going well. He had, of course, sensed these incursions before they occurred with Observation Haki, and had been careful to cultivate the impression that he had spent most of the afternoon napping under a shady tree just beyond the open-air dining area and patio of the residential compound.

Robin found him once again in this state of faux-sleep. "Would you like to join me for dinner, Zoro?" Half of her body, from the waist up, emerged from the trunk of the tree, as he opened one eye lazily and looked back up at her.

"Sure," he replied.

"Okay. I'll be up in a few minutes." The clone dissolved, and Zoro grinned in anticipation. He had spent the first few hours of the afternoon in deep in thought. He had then spent the latter half of the afternoon acting upon those thoughts, specifically in searching for something (which, being Zoro, did take him several hours). Now, however, Zoro made a beeline back to the patio.

There, in a barbecue pit, he had a large slab of beef shoulder (excavated from the villa's freezer, a place Luffy would have loved) slow-roasting over a fire. Near one of the picnic tables, he had a cask of ale (for his own enjoyment) as well as a fresh-brewed pot of coffee (Robin had found a particularly palatable flavor amongst the compound's stores). In the open dining patio under the setting sun, facing the sea, it was a strikingly romantic scene. This was not Zoro's plan, however, oh no. Zoro's plan was much more diabolical, multilayered, and sinister.

"Oh, you made dinner," Robin seemed pleasantly surprised by what she found.

Zoro, already eating a cut of beef, ignored her as she arrived. Once she sat down, he grabbed a plate with another cut of beef on it and handed it across to her without even opening his eye.

They ate in silence for a time, until Robin was midway through her first slice of beef. Then Zoro reached across the table again with a closed fist pointed towards Robin. It took her a few moments to notice the gesture, when she stopped eating and raised her head to look at him curiously. In response, Zoro opened his fist to reveal a ring: a golden ring with a fiery-red ruby set in the middle, which glistened almost with a life of its own in the golden-orange light of the sunset.

"Marry me," he said, meeting her gaze. It wasn't a question.

As previously stated, there are many moments that, measured in the span of linear time, are very short indeed but, in spite of that, can have a huge impact on a man's life. This moment was one which Roronoa Zoro would recall to the end of his days, not particularly for what was said or indeed how this shaped the course of his life, but rather for the rarest of sights that he bore witness to. For it was in that moment of the swordsman's blunt, moronically straightforward and yet stubbornly certain marriage proposal (more like a statement of fact than a proposal) that he saw something he had only seen once before.

Robin's eyes, beautiful, olive-shaped, cobalt-blue, widened in sudden shock. She swallowed what food was in her mouth, and then her jaw unhinged slightly. Then, beyond all that, Robin blushed.

Zoro smiled, a mirror image of one of Robin's teasing smiles, smiling for the fact that he had finally pulled one over on her after years of enduring her subtle torments (especially over the last few days). He remembered that moment as a moment of triumph, more than what came before, or what, almost inevitably, came after.

"Of course," Robin said, forcing herself to regain her composure in a way that was wholly transparent and only caused the swordsman to grin more. He reached out with his other arm, taking the ring up from his palm and placing it gently on the finger of her outstretched hand.

Sure, it didn't make sense, proposing marriage to a woman that he had only declared his love for a few hours before. But if Zoro had learned anything in his time with Robin on Durga, it was that it didn't have to make sense. Theirs was not some soppy story of star-crossed lovers like the legend of the Kalydon, of lovers like Odios and Niobe thrown together by destiny to feel a passionate, earth-shaking love. But neither was their romance something that they had to rationalize, justify, or explain. It simply _was_, and that was enough.

Zoro returned to his food after putting the ring on Robin's finger before he suddenly felt a very odd feeling on his back, and then something soft and wet on his cheek. He started, turning to see Robin's face near his own, but he could still see Robin too sitting at the table, drinking some of her coffee. In a second he realized the Robin that had just kissed his cheek was growing out of his back, before the cloned Robin kissed him full on the lips, obscuring his sight.

The clone Robin soon dissolved, and Zoro could now see that the original was now standing. "Shall we?" she offered.

Zoro did not need a lot of brain power to realize what she meant.

~0~

Roronoa Zoro stirred in the luxurious bed which had once belonged to Commander Subahu of Durga Islet. Clean light of a golden dawn filtered into the half-shaded windows of Subahu's master suite, striking the swordsman's eye as he lay trapped in a web of silken sheets and the warm embrace of Nico Robin.

"Good morning," Robin said cheerily.

"Morning," Zoro grunted. It certainly didn't feel like morning, given how long the night before had lasted.

"We're back underway," Robin said. "I've been awake for about an hour, and we're on course for Rig Maratha."

"Breakfast, then?" Zoro queried.

"In time," Robin replied. She tightened her embrace, kissing him on the cheek and beginning to run her hands over his battle-scarred frame. He could feel the warmth of her body, the softness of her breasts, the gentle heat of her breath. "Let's just enjoy our cruise."

For although the two of them faced no more threats, their adventures on Rig Maratha were not yet over. The objectives of their "explorations" had simply changed.

End.

**Afterword:** I will confess to lifting the proposal idea whole-cloth from ButterPie's story "A Surprising Turn Of Events." She (?) really encapsulated the exact way that Zoro would propose (for a certain extent of the word propose) to anyone, let alone Robin. I wanted to include a more extensive erotic scene, but it would just be filler at this point so I cut back for time and the avoidance of mere self-indulgence. Also had to point out what happened to Subahu, since she kind of died in a room that they were going to make extensive use of, so they couldn't just leave her there (or the other dead hunters, stinking up the mountain fortress). My guess is that one of the rough-and-tumble hunters under Subahu's command was a fairly skilled gardener, because she certainly wouldn't have the skill to maintain such a nice space on the backside of the mountain.

Some brief "development anecdotes":

1) The "plot bunny" that inspired this story was not, initially, related to "Numbers Game" at all (and even then, the relationship is only peripheral as it gave me a setting to work off of). The idea, originally, was a gag one-shot about Zoro getting lost and seeing Robin naked in the process (which we find as the centerpiece for chapter 5).

2) At the same time, I've wanted to tell "the definitive ZoRo story" ever since I started writing the pairing. While this story is much shorter than many I've written (like the more voluminous YoruSoi fics over in Bleach), this is the closest we're going to get to my ZoRo "magnum opus". So that plot bunny evolved into a plot that could take an adventure story, and pare it down to the bare bone parts that would focus on the evolution of the relationship, rather than having to tell "everything" that happened.

3) "Rig Maratha" is a nonsense jumble of Indian (Hindu) sounding words, much like how Oda names many islands (nonsense, but real word, names like Punk Hazard, or the Spanish-y sounding name Dressrosa). "Rig" is the prefix for a number of ancient texts foundational to Hinduism, like the Rig Veda. "Maratha" is named for the Maratha Empire, the last great Indian empire before the onset of the British Raj (taking the helm from the declining Moguls). Durga was a many-armed warrior goddess of sorts, a name I felt was appropriate. Subahu and Sugriva are both figures in Hindu mythology.

4) There is one moment in my head in which Robin blushed in canon, not counting any facial coloration during the whole "I want to live!" thing. It's a humorous scene, a favorite of mine, and Zoro was there to witness it, though others were the instigators. A cookie to those who can guess.

Enough of me prattling on. Read, review, critique (please critique? I like to learn of my own weaknesses and improve). Enjoy the story that was.


End file.
